World

ByCompiled from wire service reports by Robert Kilborn and Kristen Broman-WorthingtonAugust 22, 2002

Five men believed to be of Iraqi origin were arraigned in a Berlin court for their roles in Tuesday's seizure of the Baghdad government's embassy there. Chargé d'affaires Shamir Mohamad, the most senior diplomat in the building at the time, said he believed the group, which called itself the Democratic Iraqi Opposition of Germany, was controlled by the US or Israel. German police ended the six-hour takeover without violence. Below, supporters of the Iraqi government parade past the embassy late Tuesday with a portrait of Saddam Hussein.

A painter employed by Hebrew University in Jerusalem was arrested on suspicion of planting the bomb that killed nine people in the school cafeteria July 31. Security officials said he is a member of a 15-person Hamas cell discovered last weekend as it was about to carry out another attack. Israeli forces also destroyed two apartment buildings in the Gaza Strip on a mission to deprive Palestinian snipers of hiding places from which to fire at Israeli targets. A sniper attack Tuesday killed a settlement guard.

Acting "in the larger interest of the country," President Pervez Musharraf announced he was amending Pakistan's Constitution unilaterally, giving the armed forces a formal role in governing. He also reserved for himself the power to dismiss parliament. The moves came seven weeks before Pakistanis go to the polls to choose a new National Assembly.

Eight people believed to be sales agents for a US cosmetics company were kidnapped by Muslim guerrillas of the Abu Sayyaf movement in the southern Philippines. But the Manila office of Avon Inc. was denying any connection with the hostages. All reportedly are Filipinos, two of whom were later released. The seizures were the first by Abu Sayyaf since US troops ended a mission in the area last month to help Filipino forces crush the group.

A state of emergency was declared around a massive lake in central China whose rising water level is said to threaten 10 million people. Worse than usual summer flooding in Hunan province already is blamed for more than 100 deaths. The declaration gives local officials the power to commandeer manpower, materials, and land in the effort to protect the area. In Nepal, at least 60 people died in a monsoon rain-caused landslide that destroyed an entire village. In central India, a dam collapsed under the weight of rains, drowning at least 25 other people.